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2012 Smorgasburg sweet vendors are top notch

Last Saturday team DessertBuzz made a long overdue trip to the food festival of skinny jeans Smorgasburg to check out their latest sweet offerings. Overall, I was really impressed by the quality of everything at this food market. Everything was quite good. Even some of the offerings that seemed “gimmicky” were well thought out and executed with a commitment to finger-licking excellence.

Coconut being applied to a frozen-nana

More coconut

The handoff of the chocolate-dipped, coconut covered frozen nana

One of the longest and most consistent lines at Smorgasburg was for Nana’s Frozen Bananas. Who knew so many people like bananas dipped in chocolate? $4 for a plain, chocolate-dipped banana, $5 with one or two toppings (coconut, sprinkles toffee). Brooklyn Basedhas a great run down of the frozen bananas including Nana’s.

The Kelvin Natural Slush stall had a line the entire day

Kelvin Natural Slush Co. It’s such a simple concept–a gourmet and much healthier Slurpee–but damn these things are good! Always refreshing, always satisfying and not too sweet. Choose from a few well-thought-out flavors like ginger and raspberry or mint. You simply can’t go wrong on a hot day with a Kelvin Natural Slush. $4 each. Their website is here.

Dough doughnuts berry glaze doughnut

Dough Doughnuts Widely viewed as one of the top doughnuts in NYC this is one of the great steals of the fair. At $2.25-2.50 each, you really get a lot of good eating for your money. Flavors include dulce de leche, hibiscus, cafe au lait, cinnamon sugar, lemon poppy and chocolate with cocoa nibs. I recommend the berry glaze. Their Yelp page is here.

Cutie Pie's award winning coconut cream pies

Cutie Pies, (winners of the 2011 Led Zeppelin Pie Contest). I first learned about Cutie Pies from the New York Times “Artisanal Bakers” feature (so much for DessertBuzz being on the bleeding edge!) I had previously tried their full-size coconut cream pie at a party and I thought it was excellent. It was very really “coconutty” with a buttery and flaky crust. Now these delicious pies are available in a 3″ size. Available in a number of different flavors too. $5 for the 3″ size. Check out their website for more info.

Ridiculously good pain au chocolats from Runner Stone

The Runner & Stone table was quiet as it was the late afternoon, but I could tell just from the look of the chocolate croissants and turnovers that the person or people behind these baked goods were all-pro. And the good looks did not mislead–the chocolate croissant ($3.50) was absolutely out-of-this-world-good. It turns out that Runner and Stone is headed by Peter Endriss, former Head Baker of Per Se and Bouchon New York. They’ll be opening a bricks and mortar restaurant and bakery in Gowanas later this year. Check their website for updates here.

Kale chips with coconut and chocolate

New York Naturals, a company I had seen in many stores–though I had never tasted their products–brought their flagship product, raw vegan kale chips. I know that sounds really hard-core-healthy and probably makes the pork-belly-eating masses shudder–but the chocolate coconut kale chips are crunchy and delicious. I liked them so much I bought bag for later. The two sweet flavors were $5 each or two bags for $9. Their website with more info is here.